Well it is officially the middle of May and like most of us, I’m living in the Covid cloud of confusion. My children have been out of school since March 17th. Originally school was supposed to transition to “distance learning” for two weeks. Then on April 1st, we received word that the children would continue with distance learning for the remainder of the school year. To say I thought it was an April Fool’s joke is no understatement. Turns out, it was in fact true and that was the unofficial end to the 2019-2020 school year. Yes, I know they would still have online classes but basically that was that in terms of school. This is my son’s last year of elementary school and my daughter’s last year of middle school, so it’s disappointing to both of them that this is how those chapters have closed. They’ve handled it really well, but I feel for them and all of the others missing out on milestone moments.
In addition to the shift in their school, my husband and I endured many sleepless nights. We own a restaurant and as I am sure you are well aware, the restaurant industry has been hit particularly hard (as other industries have too). So we were faced with trying to figure out how to keep our business afloat, keep kids somewhat learning what they needed to learn, attempt to keep some sense of fun and normalcy in our day to day family life and also try to make sure we were keeping our loved ones and ourselves safe. The stress was tangible.
We adapted as we could, removing tables from the restaurant, maintaining more space between customers, switching to single use menus, etc. But as the days went on and the situation in the US continued to get worse, we then had to switch to take-out only. Tough days were definitely ahead, laying off our staff, stress mounting and the mere uncertainty of the situation weighing heavily on us.
In addition to all of this, about two weeks before everything began to shut down in our area, we had put our house on the market. So to add yet another layer of stress to this situation, the sale of our home has been delayed. Initially there was a lot of interest, but the market virtually was at a stand still for about 6-7 weeks. Recently, as people are beginning to try to return to a sense of normalcy, there has been a bit more interest in the home. However, a word of advice – try NOT to put your house on the market right before a global pandemic, NO Bueno.
Looking back at the past two months seem both surreal and a blur. We have done all we could, some days having more patience with the situation than others, some days feeling like we were on the brink of insanity, but we have persevered. We have really enjoyed the family time with our children, played a ton of volleyball games, Mexican dominoes and more. Kids wanted to start a family You Tube channel, did that too! Another activity we have done quite a bit of is baking of course! Homemade cinnamon rolls, a birthday cake for Dad and some other treats here and there have been a delicious addition to these stressful days. I think I have officially mastered homemade ice cream and everyone except my waistline are all thrilled that I have. Grocery shopping is a whole new experience, bringing the food home and putting it away takes forever as we clean and disinfect everything imaginable. The first week or two I joked around that I was made for this, as I am a bit of a germaphobe and clean freak on a normal day. Two months later, I am now saying this is getting a bit tiring.
It’s hard to know what to do and what is truly best practices as there are so many unknowns in this situation. We have tried to get our information from a variety of sources and make decisions based on trying to keep our family safe. At the end of the day, who really knows? Everyone is just trying to keep on keeping on and doing the best they can.
Two days ago we reopened the restaurant (limited seating) and we have hired back our staff! Yay!! Things are still very much in limbo with our home, the summer, even what fall will look like. I like to plan and living with uncertainty in so many areas is an adjustment that I have been forced to make. I just wanted to give a quick update, say hang in there and you’re stronger than you think. Feel free to comment on how you and your family have been handling this time. Know I’m sending good vibes your way!